Apparatus for opening clogged sewers



April 21, 1931. P. A. FUCHS APPARATUS FOR OPENING CLOGGED SEWERS Filed March 2, 1929 TTORNEYQ Patented Apr. 21 1 931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PHILIP FUCHS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TOTIURBINE SEWER MA CHINE COMPANY, OF WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATIONOF WISCONSIN APPARATUS FOR OPENING CLOGGED SEWEBS Application filed March 2, 1929. Serial No. 344,079.

This invention relates to improvements in methods and apparatus for opening clogged sewers, either preliminary to the use of a hydraulic sewer cleaning'apparatus similar to that disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,163,624, dated December 7, 1915, or in substiution for the hydraulic apparatus disclosed in said patent in cases where such apparatus is not available and in cases where a water supply is not available with sufficient pressure to operate such apparatus.

The object of this invention is to provide an inexpensive method for opening sewers. In the accompanying drawings, devices adapted to facilitate the method herein de scribed are shown, partly in elevation and partly in' vertical section.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a pilot tool adapted to be initially used.

Figures 2, 3 and 4t illustrate similar tools intended to be successively used after the pilot tool has provided an initial opening.

, Figure 5 is an end elevation of the tool shown in Figure 4, showing the same partly in section, taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4;.

' Figure 6 is an end elevation of the tool shown in F igure 1.

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic illustration on a small scale, showing the cables and windlasses in operation.

Figure 8 is an illustration of the sectional pilot rod.

Like parts are identified by the same refer ence numerals throughout the several views, with letters a, b and 0 added to the numerals used in Figure l to distinguish the corre sponding parts of the tools shown in the other views.

In the practice of the improved method, a cable is first passed through a section of the sewer from one manhole to the next. If the sewer is not completely clogged, a float may be employed to carry a cord or wire through the section, after which the cable may be at tached thereto and drawn through the section by the pilot cord or wire.

If the pilot cord or wire cannot be floated through, a pilot rod may be employed which can be driven through, the rod being formed in sections which can be manipulated into place successively.

After the cable has been passed through the sewer, a small bore pilot cutter is attached and drawn through the section by means of the cable, another cable being attachedto the rear end of the pilot cutter, whereby the cutter may be reciprocated for cutting purposes. A Windlass may be employed at each manhole to operate the cables, whereby the cutter may be drawn with great force against obstructions.

Sewers are frequently filled with roots, stones, earth and grease, and in some cases the roots may be several inches in diameter. Therefore, the pilot cutter employed should be but little larger than the cable and by reciprocating it and progressively advancing it from one manhole to the next, it can be made to cut a. small hole and to shave or cut away portions of the roots which always run longitudinally, whereby the cutter will operate along the sides thereof and parallel with the grain of the wood.

After an opening has been made through the sewer section by means of the pilot cutter, another cutter of slightly larger diameter may be substituted and the operation repeated, thereby enlarging the opening on all sides by cutting or splitting additional shavings from the roots and removin additional stones and othermaterial to malie alarger bore. By repeating this operation with successively larger cutters, it is obvious that the entire sewer may be eventually cleared of roots and other materials. The cutters may be employed to not only cut the material, but to push or draw it to the respective manholes for removal, if the conditions are such that the material cannot be floated away.

It will, of course, be understood that the use of cylindrical cutters makes it possible to keep the shavings of material and other fragments out of contact with the remainder, or uncut 7? material adhering to the walls, until it can be entrained in the efliuent flowing through the cylinder and suflicient motion imparted to it to prevent it from again adhering. If the operation is commenced at the outlet and advanced to successive man-holes in a direction opposite to that in which the efiluent flows, t e shavings and fragments may thus be readily flushed away from the tool and carried to the point of ultimate discharge.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings which show tools particularly adapted for making a pilot bore and successively enlarging it, the operation will be described in ore particularly with reference to the use of such tools.

After the cable has been extended through the sewer section to be opened, one end is at tached to an open ended cylinder 10, having beveled end margins 11 and provided with runners 12 alon its sides, and bails 13 at its ends. Preferab y this pilot tool will have a cylinder of about three inches in diameter, with runners composed of half round rods preferably about one-half inch in thickness.

In the smaller tools, these rods may comprise end extensions of the bails, the bails being set at right angles to each other with their end extensions constituting four runners.

After attaching one end of: the cable to one of the bails, another cable may be attached to the other bail, and the tool may be then drawn back and forth within the sewer section by means of suitable windlasses at the respective manholes. By moving the tool back and forth with a progressively advancing movement from the point of its entry into the sewer until it reaches the exit point at the other manhole, an opening may be cleared of a size substantially equal to the diameter of the tool. The beveled edges 11 at each end of the tool will cut the roots and other material and will tend to deliver the material into or through the cylinder, or force it ahead of the tool, the

cylinder being occasionally drawn backward- 1y from its point of entry and cleared of any material contained therein.

After the pilot tool has been passed through the sewer section, it will be removed,

and the tool shown in Figure 2 will be substituted.

This tool is of slightly larger diameter than the tool shown in Figure 1, the outside diameter of the cylinder being approximately four inches. Also in this tool and those of larger size, the bails 13a are preferably separately formed and have their ends passed through holes in the cylinder and headed, as clearly shown, at 15. The runners 12a may have their ends riveted to the cylinder as shown in Figure 2 and their central portions sl' htly offset as indicated at 16.

e tools shown in Figures 3 and 4 are like the tool shown in Figure 2 with the single m exception that the cylinder of the tool in F igure 3 is a proximately five and five-eighths inches in iameter, while that shown in Figure 4 is approximately seven and threefoul'ths inches in diameter.

55 In Figure 7, the pilot tool 10 is shown in position within a sewer, with cables 20 and 21 attached to its respective ends and connected to windlasses 22, the cables running over pulleys 23 attached to supports 24, insertable in the respective manholes.

Cylinders of larger diameters will, of course, be employed for the larger sewers. But each successive cylinder will be only slightly larger than the one preceding it whereby a comparatively thin cylindrica portion may be cut from the material in the sewer by each tool. This makes it possible to operate the tools in the manner described, even though the sewer may be encumbered with roots several inches in diameter in addition to accumulations of stone, earth and grease.

I am aware of the fact that cutting cylinders or buckets similar to those herein de scribed, have been employed for various purposes and that attempts have been made to use them for the cleaning of sewers, but so far as I am aware, no attempt has been made to employ a pilot cutter in association with cutters of successively larger diameter and' all attempts to use single buckets have been unsuccessful when the sewer is completely or almost completely clogged, or when there are large roots to be cut. By my improved method, each cutting operation removes only a small portion of the material and after the pilot cutter has been used, the remaining operations are in the nature of shaving operations as distinguished from the scooping or bucketing operations heretofore attempted.

I claim:

In apparatus for clearing clogged sewers, an open ended cylinder having its ends beveled outwardly from its interior surface to its exterior surface to form a peripheral cutting edge and bails at the respective ends of the cylinder, adapted to facilitate connection of an actuating member thereto, the interior of said cylinder being open and unobstructed for the passage of effluent therethrough.

PHILIP A. FUCHS. 

